This raises the usual obvious and good questions, including the
Pennsylvania flight, which some reported at the time was headed for Camp
David. I think Jared has the timing wrong, though. I was awakened that
morning by a call right after the first tower was hit by Dan Alcorn, and
all early reports timed that at 8:43. The second tower was reportedly
hit about 20 minutes later at 9:05. I felt the Pentagon crash shake
my windows about 40 minutes later, at 9:48. I seem to recall that the
Pennsylvania flight went down before that, but I could be wrong.

In any case, they certainly could and were tracking Flight 77 on radar from
the moment it turned in Ohio. NORAD, the Pentagon's air defense system had
word of 4 hijackings by 8:25 am and presumably sent out alerts. The
press was uninformed and silent until well after the towers were hit,
when the purpose was undeniable. Katie Couric on the Today Show was
looking at a live feed of the first tower burning and was speculating
that an explosion of some sort inside the building caused it until the
second plane hit. By then reports were arriving that eyewitnesses had
seen the first plane go into the building.

In any case, there was lots
of lead time between that moment of realization and the shoot down order
that followed from Bush and Cheney "within moments" and the double
circle over the most restricted air space in the country and the loop de
loop that ended at the empty side of the Pentagon, 270 degress out of
the way of a direct attack.

They knew it was coming to DC, and announced
the fact. They announced the evacuation of the White House, the Capitol
and the Pentagon and showed some of it on local TV and CNN while the
plane approached. Besides the F-16 and F-18 fighter jets, there are
attack helicopters and other sorts of planes to intercept aircraft at
our local bases. Nothing was sent up until way too late and from too far
away to possibly do any good. No explanation to date from the official
sources makes a bit of sense. Stand-down makes sense.

Keep this one in your scrapbook when they claim non-cooperation and the
need to start bombing. Nothing like a reasonable offer to the US to
escalate a war.

Interview: The Man in the Middle
Prime minister of Somalia's Transitional National Government,
Hassan Abshir Farah about the likelihood that his country
could become the next target in the American war on terrorism
by Lara Santoro, Newsweek, 14 Jan 2002
http://www.hiiraan.com/jan02/abshir_newsweek.htm

Subject: This could be the year (from which there is no turning back)
6 Jan 2002

Not sure what this source is, but an interesting analysis with links
about the consolidation of neoliberal globalization. This is certainly
the year they have lined up in open warfare against the disenfranchised,
the poor and the few pockets of resistance left.

Who's counting? Given the type of weapons used and their destructive
potential, as well as the free hand given to the Northern Alliance and
other Taliban forces in the wake of the bombings to kill hundreds of
people, the death of military combatants in this conflict is the only
"collateral damage".

E Haribus Rectum
The New York Times now has a new Sunday section,
to go along with Arts and Entertainment and Real Estate
--it's called `A Nation Challenged.'...
by Matt Taibbi, taibbi@exile.ru, 26 Dec 2001
EHaribusR.html

Subject: The Arrival of Orwellian America
7 Jan 2002

I strongly recommend a re-reading of Orwell's 1984, especially the
sections on the permanent but invisible war and the Book of Revolution
allegedly written by Goldstein, later revealed as state-sponsored
propaganda, which Winston reads aloud to Julia in the bedroom. It was
O'Brian who gave Winston the book, later his interrogator at the
Ministry of Truth. Gee touches on only a few of the significant
parallels of this permanent war to the one described by Orwell in the
1940s. We are post-Orwellian now, but Bush's script writers aren't.

Pentagon Tracked Deadly Jet But Found No Way to Stop It
by Matthew L. Wald, New York Times, 15 Sep 2001
F77nyt.html

Subject: 9-11: Ho-hum, Nothing Urgent
10 Jan 2002

I heard reports on local TV that the flight had turned in Ohio and was
heaaded to Washington at least 20 minutes before it crashed nearby. I
knew it was coming and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was not
informed? They also announced evacuation of the Pentagon during that
time. Not worth interrupting him, I guess.

This smells of the lack of
DEFCON status change on November 22, 1963 following the murder of the
President in Dallas by parties unknown. The Chairman of the JCS was in
meetings that hour with German military officers at the Pentagon, that
wasn't cancelled either.

Note that the head of NORAD is also head of the
US Space Command, a notorious agency that is planning "US dominance"
globally from space and the new Star Wars. Like one commentator said
this week, we should expect to be at war with terrorism for a long time,
as long as the US wants "dominance" around the world. He took both as a
given. You can't scramble jets if you aren't gonna break some sound
barriers. They didn't do nuttin' on 9-11.

From the point of view of corporations, war is profit, and much more.
War expands markets, guarantees access to new resources and labor, and
protects existing investments and regions of control. In addition, the
same corporations can cash in by selling and testing new weapons and
exhausting the stock of older ones, all of which can then be resold as
replacements. Both covert and overt military operations are guided by
investment decisions, and the early directors of the CIA were also
international investment bankers and corporate heads. Pentagon and CIA
both have revolving doors into and out of the corporate world. Carlyle
is a prime example, but hardly the only one with their hand in this
cookie jar.

The underpinnings of the conflict and the future laid out by Walden
Bello. The linkage he mentions of anti-militarism/empire, anti-corporate
globalism, and pro civil and human rights is critical right now. I
direct those interested to a model for such a coalition of effort at
www.contractwiththeplanet.org. We either hang together or we hang
separately, as Ben Franklin said.

The old OSS special forces training center in Canada during WWII was
known as Camp X. It created the first elements of the last half century
of covert operations, including terrorism, assassination and coups. The
transfer of these prisoners of war, which is how they must be treated,
to Cuba has all the earmarks of a setup to me. Castro is often railed
against as a "terrorist" or a source of them, despite the long history
of US-sponsored terror against the Cuban people. Plans to use US
military forces to carry out a variety of activities covertly to be
blamed on Castro go back to the 1960's at least. Is Guantanamo bait for
an "attack"? There is more in this article, including the ongoing
bombings. The main site has additional article sources from the
mainstream about the military aspects of the events.

I am currently working with Avenging Angels, a communications resource
company for progressive groups. We have initiated
A New Contract With
the Planet, a ten point program that includes the concerns of diverse
progressive organizations, as well as the critical changes that provide
"New Jobs for Old Glory". The ad ran as a two-page spread in the last
issue of The Nation, encouraging groups to sign on to the campaign. This
platform addresses key issues of militarism, poverty, ecology,
alternative energy, civil liberties and foreign policy at this turning
point in our history. Other forces are working hard to push the country
far to the right and to undermine any progressive agenda. Please take a
look at this website and discuss this campaign with your organization
for endorsement. For more information, sign in at the website or contact
me.

This article compiles the many instances of advance notice of September
11 and the evidence of either a massive intelligence failure, or a massive
fraud. The sources cited are in many cases the intelligence agencies or
their assets.

The planning for "terrorist attacks" and the domestic and
international response has been going on for nearly 30 years now, with
rising levels of sophistication and demand for control. Most scenarios
include martial law at some stage in the attacks. Could if be said that
if we hadn't
created bin Laden we'd have to create him?

There were many things that could have been done differently in the last
30 years to end war, terrorism and violence worldwide. The United States
not only failed to do them, it often did the opposite. But building a
military / intelligence / security apparatus as the sole response possible
or desireable insures much more profit, social control and ultimate
concentration of power than the path that might lead to real security
and peace. Those wishing the latter were rarely consulted by the
planners.

At some point, did all this preparatory thinking come to be
self-fulfilling prophecy awaiting only it's triggering incident? We have
many other examples of this same apparatus both encouraging and standing
aside for other violent actions that became the excuse for repressive
responses. In Europe it is known as a "strategy of tension" that
ultimately puts the hired guns in charge of the ranch. Those boys don't
care much for democracy, we might have noticed.

This used to be the province of the Defense Industrial Security Command
and the NRC. Like all else, it is being privatized now to the detriment
of any real security, which was already compromised by DISC by shipping
bomb grade plutonium to South Africa and other client states. Anybody
have more on this one?

Doesn't it somehow fit eerily into the ENRON web -- creating an energy
crisis to trump up a phony excuse to rebirth nuclear power plants, creating
needs in which a market is covertly controlled for power and greed. Who
is involved in the USEC and are they the same players as the ENRON
group? Is Cheney involved? I'm certain smarter people can enlarge the

This bill seems to require military training for a year for all males
18-22 unless deferred the whole time or exempted, with some option to
send them to national service instead. It appears to eliminate the 1-O
conscientious objector status of both non-combatant and non-military,
with an option to transfer instead. Cong. Smith has a background in Air
Force intelligence. It needs active opposition. It has a potential to
activate young people and parents as well to talk about the war.

Please oppose HR 3598, Universal Military Training and Service Act of 2001
stopHR3598.html

Subject: Stone hits oil
20 Jan 2002

Conspiracy-cracking filmmaker Oliver Stone is back.

New York's Daily News says Stone, director of JFK, recently set
his sights on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In a speach at Brown University, Stone said Osama bin Laden
"was completely protected by (US) oil companies, who told
(President George W.) Bush not to go after him because it would
p--- off the Saudis."

This site, put up and maintained by local and international activists,
needs registration for full access and is a bit hard to maneuver,
including slow. However, it is a good collection of 644 articles on
different aspects of the war, and more come in regularly.

Copy it and stick it in your wallet or purse. In times like these, you
may be the only one around who remembers you have them. And nobody has
rights if they are not exercised regularly, just like muscles.

This critical piece reveals plans moving forward to create a unified
command in the US, a CINC commander (probably either one that works with
NORAD/US Space Command or one that works with CONUS defense/NATO
currently) for CONUS, and an adjustment to prohibitions on military role
in domestic law enforcement, prohibited as this article notes by Posse
Comitatus. Note it well, it will change the character of life in the US
soon, militarizing and privatizing a wide range of civil and civilian
functions that have been decentralized until now.

My suspicion remains
that "Homeland Defense" may be the new impetus and plausible excuse to
renew a military draft. Note the Pentagon's reluctance, since they are
already involved in "100 countries". This was the fight back in August
about whether or not we should become a Pax Americana between Bush's
cabinet and the Pentagon. Heads have rolled since then, and the Empire
is more and more visible and arrogant.

Vest's article in Atlantic Monthly points out the new thinking. Spinney,
while still a defense strategist, picks up many of the themes of the
liberal critique of the bloated Pentagon and corporate complexes.
Neither this approach nor the extensive Homeland Defense/Security
apparatus will do anything but waste needed funds for human development
here and abroad. Asymmetric warfare should be stood on its head to
realize that rooting out the cause is more important than countering the
effect.

A little bit more history than they'd like to acknowledge. But then look
at poor Ken Lay from Enron, Bush can barely remember his name now after
calling him "Ken boy". Short memories I guess. Glad I'm not their friend.

Gee, I don't know if I'd admit it either, but then I don't run for
office on their money.

New on the Public i: Pentagon Releases Misleading Statement on Enron Stock

In a statement released Jan. 22, the Pentagon noted that Donald Rumsfeld
doesn't own stock in Enron. It further claimed that a Center for Public
Integrity report, which noted that when Rumsfeld filed his financial
disclosure report, he was one of 14 officials who owned Enron, was
inaccurate. The Center stands by its story, and challenges some of the
Pentagon's claims. The full Center response can be accessed at:
www.public-i.org.

From another perspective, the Somali's rightly wonder if they are next.

Somalis remember with horror U. S. soldiers scouring and strafing their
neighborhoods ... a security guard explained. "They are afraid of bombing.
The last time Americans came here, first came the journalists, then the
soldiers. In the beginning, it was peace. Then they began to kill us." ...
mystifying for many here that U.S. soldiers ended up killing so many
people...

Somalis give thumbs down to `Black Hawk'
by Donald G. McNeil Jr., New York Times
22 Jan 2002, San Francisco ChronicleSomalisTDBHD.html

Subject: "Unlawful combatants"?
29 Jan 2002

It strikes me that the Bush administration has been very cleverly
meshing the concepts of declared war and criminal justice, confusing
both so that they can do whatever they like without following the
precepts of either. Justice has been made synonymous with military
retaliation. The use of military tribunals replaces international law
and tribunals. The line between civilian law enforcement and criminal
courts and military actions is being eroded seriously. . . .

Well said and to the point. Paradoxically, also beside the point. Fait
accompli and all that.

What can be done? By the citizen, nothing. (Except, of course, to do as you
are doing by voicing protest). It is up to the Congress to withdraw its
silly grant of war powers and to insist on legal and constitutional
responses.

But, I fear, it is too late for that, too. Harry Truman's actions (at Dean
Acheson's urging) not to ask for a war resolution before sending troops to
Korea set the precedent. LBJ repeated this when he secured from the
spineless MCs the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The unfortunate, and on its face
unconstitutional, War Powers Act authorizing the executive to engage the
nation in war without a prior declaration, was the next congressional
waiver. Now we have "war" declared (so to speak) against, not another
nation, but against a totally undefined (or, at best, ill-defined) concept
called "terrorism"--an open-ended war to be conducted ad infinitum
against "terrorists" and all those, be they nations, organizations, groups,
or individuals, who "support terrorism."

Twenty years ago I watched the US direct and finance a terrorist campaign
against Nicaragua. Do I hear one of our cowardly congresspersons call
attention to this? Fageddahabahtit.

John, this is more than the treatment or the status of the persons the US
takes into custody during this so-called war. It is about the use of the US
armed forces in an unconstitutional manner.

Unhappily, as I indicated above, all the precedents have been established
over the past 51 years. In that half century where (Wayne Morse?) has a
significant congressional voice been raised? And where (Vietnam protests?
Iran-contra? Maybe) has been the voice of the American people--except in
support of "our president."

Hail Caesar and vale republic.

Keep it up, though, John. Better vain protest than no protest at all.

Dave

Subject: Baxter Death Not Necessarily Suicide (Enron)
30 Jan 2002

More questions on Baxter, and a hallelujah someone is asking them. Where
is Cyril Wecht when we need him?

I can't get the link on here to work, but I have seen the interview with
Brezezinsky reprinted recently, and he regretted nothing about what
trouble they caused afterwards, so exulted was he at the fall of the
USSR. Brezezinsky also recommended in his own book on world politics
that in order to control the resources of the post USSR world that the
US had to set up a military base in Uzbekistan. We're working on it now.

from Radio France Internationale (Nov. 1, 2001)
Radio France Internationale --a state-owned station-- has confirmed
today (Nov. 1st) the news about the meeting between Osama bin Laden and a
CIA agent in the emirate of Dubai. It has also given more details: his
name is Larry Mitchell and he is the local station chief under the guise
of a `consular agent'. The meeting took place on July, 12, 2001.

The news also quotes Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former aide to President
Jimmy Carter on the CIA help to the Afghans. It didn't begin in 1980 as
a consequence of the Soviet intervention on December, 24, 1979, as the
official story tells. To the contrary, the Soviet invasion was a
consequence of a secret directive by Carter dated July 3, 1979, who
ordered the clandestine help to the Afghan rebels.

An important message at this time on PBS. I haven't yet been able to
catch a showing but want to. The text here is fun and worth reading
through. I especially liked the starvation experiment diary and the
COG's (Conscientious Objector Girls). During the Vietnam era there were
Women Who Say Yes to Men Who Say No.

Reveals the CIA link to the "terror training camps". There were reports
at the time, as I recall, that a meeting of leading world terrorists was
called by bin Laden and that was what Clinton was sending the missiles
in to destroy. Then the press said they had killed many of them but that
bin Laden had not attended at the last moment. I recall thinking then
that he, like many other villified but surviving "evil enemies" of the
US, was one of ours, created and run by the CIA behind the scene. I
haven't been disabused of that notion to date.

The largest increase in 20 years, on top of an already bloated
structure. This is coming directly out of critically needed social
services and safety nets. This will not "boost the economy" for workers,
only for corporate profits. Social Security funds will bear this excess,
and a deficit which is covered by loans from the rich. We will be paying
it off for decades. It will not protect us